Still Marking Time

The dead period continues, as a few rumors might trickle out during this period before the official start to free agency but not much else.  Just a slow time for a baseball fan.

There’s not even much Cardinal-related on MLB Trade Rumors , though I do note that one GM states Matt Holliday won’t get Mark Teixeira money.  I don’t think anyone really believes that he will, not even Scott Boras.  That won’t keep Boras from talking him up, of course, like a good agent should.  That just doesn’t mean that anyone has to listen .

One good thing about this organization is that, on the whole, they are a smart group.  I don’t think you’d see them bidding against themselves, a la Tom Hicks.  I don’t think you’ll see them wait it out too long, either.  They realize that the players traded are a sunk cost, they are gone no matter.  While it helps the deal if they are able to resign him, that has to be looked at in a vaccum, and if the deal is getting too big or it is going to impact their talks with Albert Pujols, they are smart enough to go with Plan B, C, or D.

Boras also believes that the Cardinals’ hire of Mark McGwire is completely related to keeping Matt Holliday and he wants no part of any talk of non-monetary benefits.  He’s noted that Holliday worked with Mac this offseason and had to ditch some of his training this year after the slow start.  That much I knew.  What Derrick Goold points out at his blog is that a lot of Holliday’s success came after McGwire told him to keep the leg kick back in ’07.  So their relationship is better than you might first think.

Enough about Holliday.  We know there won’t be any news on him for a while, especially since the free agent market doesn’t officially open until Friday.  I don’t expect you’ll see him sign anywhere until mid-December at the earliest.

It’s baseball award season the next couple of weeks.  Of course, the newly-formed Baseball Bloggers Alliance has already done their voting, so it’ll be interesting to see how their selections compare to the writers.  The Rookie of the Year voting comes out today, and while the Cardinals official site likes to play up Colby Rasmus as a darkhorse , it’s not going to happen.  The problem with the ROY voting is that you only get three names and there were a good four or five that most people will write down before Rasmus.  Hopefully he gets some voets (he was shut out in the BBA), but I don’t think he’ll be adding that to his award shelf.

What more Cardinal fans are looking forward to is the release of the Cy Young voting.  The odds are that a Cardinal will take home the title, since two of the top three choices wear the birds on the bat.  The BBA went with Tim Lincecum, but Matthew Leach on the UCB Radio Hour said he thought Adam Wainwright would get the hardware.

In a neat twist (and it’s always great to see the though processes of a player), the Post-Dispatch got Wainwright to write about why he thought Chris Carpenter would win and then Carp to talk about Waino .  I love the subtle point that Waino makes that won’t be picked up by the writers, most likely.  Carp was the one that helped Wainwright make his adjustments this year, the adjustments that put him in the Cy conversation.  So when you take into accout Carp’s numbers plus his value to the team, it’s a strong argument.

Don’t know how often I’ll update, though of course if any big news comes down you can count on me rambling on.  The Cardinal Blogger Awards voting is going on now.  Two ballots already in, more promised.  Mine will be up Friday and the final awards will be announced soon after.  Enjoy your week!

Daniel Shoptaw is the founder of “C70 At The Bat,” where he regularly writes about his beloved St. Louis Cardinals.  You can find more of his work here